


Light Heal

by Bopdawoo



Series: Smash Bros: World of Oneshots [2]
Category: Super Smash Brothers
Genre: Autistic Shulk, Gen, i'm just very passionate about support characters, mansion-wide nerf wars are definitely a thing, shulk just like to help ppl he's a good bean
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-28
Updated: 2020-05-28
Packaged: 2021-03-03 06:00:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,332
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24429865
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bopdawoo/pseuds/Bopdawoo
Summary: Not everyone in the Mansion is a fighter at heart.
Relationships: Dark Pit (Kid Icarus) & Shulk (Xenoblade Chronicles), Shulk (Xenoblade Chronicles) & Toon Link
Series: Smash Bros: World of Oneshots [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1755418
Comments: 3
Kudos: 33





	Light Heal

**Author's Note:**

> Characters: Shulk, Dark Pit, Toon Link  
> Rating: K+  
> Genre: friendship  
> Wordcount: ~1,300

It’s one of those days when the Mansion is a bit more hectic than usual. Today, particularly, it’s because there’s a massive Nerf war going on throughout the second floor.

Most non-participating Smashers have sought refuge elsewhere, out of the carnage; those participating have turned the entire second floor of the Mansion into a warzone littered with forgotten foam darts and makeshift melee weapons. This sort of scenario, of furniture fortresses and people charging around with toy guns, is not really the kind of setting Shulk is comfortable in. It’s just  _ too much _ , if that makes sense at all. Perhaps if his best friends from home were here, to rope him into the shenanigans and coax him out of his precious comfort zone, this would be a different story.

But, here he is anyways, waving a makeshift white flag constructed out of a sheet of printer paper and a meter stick, trying to safely make it to the pantry for some pretzel rods. He keeps an ear on the sound of commotion nearby, ready to duck behind furniture or into nearby rooms should it get nearer. He’s already gotten caught up in the fighting twice; apparently very few people are bothering to check if their target is actually playing before shooting. He’s already removed the majority of the velcro darts but he’s sure he’s got one stuck somewhere still.

The researcher is just passing through a large lounge space when the sound of battle cries and rapid dart fire erupt from down the hallway behind him, and a hail of nerf bullets comes flying from a doorway nearby. Shulk ducks and dives behind an armchair on the corner of the lounge, and in the span of about two seconds the whole lounge explodes into chaos as fighters spill in and fill the air with foam bullets. Shulk just hunkers down behind the armchair and covers his ears. At least he didn’t get caught in it this time, safe back here-

His vision warps:  _ a dark blur comes leaping over the back of the armchair and lands squarely on top of him, breaking several of his ribs. _

Shulk blinks away the vision and tucks himself between the wall and the side of the armchair, safely out of the way. Just in time: a dark blur leaps over the back of the armchair and lands safely in the open space behind it.

Dark Pit seems a little surprised to see him back here too, but glances at his makeshift white flag and greets him with a “S’up?” before firing a dart over the chair. “So what’re you up to?”

“Me? I’m just trying to get a snack.”

The dark angel chortles, “Good luck with that,” and ducks as a hail of foam darts hit the wall behind him. He stuffs one of them into his own pistol and peeks out cautiously. Meanwhile Shulk shuffles out of the cramped space he’d wedged himself into. Dark Pit makes a face, and then reaches out and picks a velcro dart off the researcher's vest collar.

“Ah, thanks. I just hope I can go get my snack soon,” Shulk mumbles. He wouldn’t have wandered into the middle of an all-out Nerf battle if he weren’t hungry enough.

Dark Pit has a contemplative look as he suggests, “I could cover you as-”

Nearby there’s a loud woody  _ thunk _ , and a cry that’s definitely not one of battle. It takes all of five seconds for the chaos to grind to a halt, and in the new quiet Shulk hears the distinct sound of a kid trying not to cry.

His heart sinks and he stands to look out, as Dark Pit does the same and asks, “What happened?”

“Toony crashed into the table corner,” Ness replies, and Shulk watches Daisy put down her frankly enormous Nerf blaster and gather Toon Link off the floor. The kid’s face is scrunched up in pain, and there’s a gash on his shin where he must have collided with the corner of the coffee table next to him.

“I’ll get Doctor Mario,” Dark Pit says and clambers out from behind the armchair; meanwhile Shulk thinks. There’s enough atmospheric ether here that he can have clear visions, so there should also be enough to use conscious ether abilities as well…

Shulk climbs out from behind the armchair and says, “I might be able to help.” He’s acutely aware that he’s drawn everyone’s attention with the announcement and tries not to let it bother him as he walks over, but he still feels very self-conscious. Daisy has Toon Link sit down on the table; the poor kid's trying so hard to hold it together but Shulk knows how much it can hurt to hit your shin, especially hard enough to draw blood. The blood is definitely making it look worse than it actually is, he thinks.

He kneels to examine the wound just as Roy comes over, removing his headband and using it to stop the bleeding somewhat. Someone else goes and calls Dark Pit back as Shulk raises his hands to hover over the gash. A little, anxious part of his mind wonders  _ will this even work, so far away from his homeland, on someone not even from Bionis, how he’ll make himself look like a fool if this doesn’t work, _ and he shoves these thoughts aside and takes a breath.

_ “Light Heal.” _

Wisps of glowing blue gas shimmer out of the air and flow down his arms, tingling his skin even through his sweater, and he tries to ignore everyone’s surprised reactions but he still feels his face heat up. He refocuses on the ether pooling around his hands, and directs its flow to Toon Link’s injury, knitting flesh and blood vessels back together at the cellular level. It sounds complicated but he’s known how to do this ever since he was little, so it’s not really that hard anymore.

Once there’s nothing left to heal Shulk disperses the gathered ether with a flick of his tingling fingers. Roy leans in and wipes his headband over the kid’s shin, finding no wound left under the small smear of red. Toon Link, eyes wide and still watery, rubs his now-healed leg and all he says is a breathy, “Whoa.”

That seems to open the floodgates for everyone else’s commentary, marveling over the ‘magic’ he just did. Shulk fiddles uncomfortable with his pendant and explains, “I-It’s not  _ really _ magic, it’s just ether wavelength manipulation.”

“Whatever that was, it was  _ cool!” _

Shulk bears the attention as best he can and fights the urge to tug his hoodie over his head, and once the conversation shifts towards taking a break in the fighting so Toon Link can chill for a bit, Shulk ducks out. He’s not used to, nor does he enjoy, being the center of attention. Once out of the way he leans against the wall with a heavy sigh.

From nearby, Dark Pit walks over and says, “Y’know, Robin and Byleth are gonna be bugging you to demonstrate that for them as soon as they get wind of this.”

“I figured,” Shulk grumbles. Byleth, he wouldn’t pin as the type to get themself injured just for the sake of seeing healing magic, but Robin…

Well, he’s just happy he was able to be here to help Toon Link. He loves the feeling of helping, and being able to help. He just wishes everyone wouldn’t make such a big deal out of seeing new powers. Is it really that exciting?

Dark Pit suggests, “You should probably go get your snack  _ before _ they start hounding you. I’ll keep them off your tail.”

“Right,” Shulk stumbles over his words as he stands back up. “Ah, um, thank you.” As he starts off down the hall he realizes he forgot his makeshift flag behind the armchair. This is a concern for exactly one second before he decides to just get it later. For now, he just wants his pretzel rods.


End file.
